Selected Works

There is a bookstore on Michigan Avenue, and you would never find it without being told where it is. It is Selected Works, and it’s on the second floor of the Fine Arts building, which is just south of Van Buren St. The building has old-fashioned glass-door elevators, operated by a gosh-darn elevator operator, and the building itself predates the 20th century.

Selected Works has a fine assortment of used books – the specialties seem to be curated fiction, sheet music, poetry, and history. There is a small but good photography book section, and I regularly stop in to raid it for treasures.

Also, it is a superb location for a photo shoot! The model is Becca Choi and the wardrobe consisted of items created or found by Yvette Wesley.

BONUS: Hodge, the bookstore cat, was extremely interested in participating.

This kid’s name is Dragon. He goes to the Off The Street Club, which is a place in Chicago where kids can hang out in a safe environment while doing all number of development activities. I took pictures at their annual fundraiser party, and met Dragon and dozens of other kids. Dragon has lost family members to gang violence, so the value of the OTSC is immensely relevant in terms of giving him a safe place to be during the day.

A few days after I took this photo, Dragon was shot. He’s alive, thankfully, but damn.

In my dreams I scream fire. When I wake, I circle my arms, thrust them out palms-first, and even as I will my hands to shoot flame, nothing ever happens.

So we went downstate and got some things together and shot flaming arrows that went SCREEEEE into the dusk, and WHOOMP as they struck their fuel-soaked targets, throwing up a pillar of ruddy light, a big fuck-you to the moment of wakefulness that dampens all dreams.